A Summer Debrief

It’s that time of year: the program year has been begun, and it’s time to look back at the summer and debrief.

I used these questions to guide my summer debrief:

• What went well?
• What didn’t work as well?
• What do I want to remember for next summer?

Here’s how I answered the questions. My answers, of course, are different than yours will be, but if you’re thinking about doing your own debrief, it might be helpful to see how I’m thinking through the questions.

What went well this summer?

1. I learned how to do easy song sets (hymn medleys, whatever term you want to call them!) and they were a hit with the congregation. Here’s how I make them.
2. I learned basic handbell maintenance and took care of the church’s bell set.
3. I organized most of the music library (more on that below).
4. I introduced a new hymn (Christopher Grundy’s “I Will Sing of Your Love, Love, Love“) that that the congregation loved (including a couple kids who I sometime heard singing it).
5. Here’s the big one: my colleagues and I collaborated on summer services in a big and creative way. We developed many participatory and educational worship elements around the theme of neighborhood – and the services went so well that we’ll be sharing the curriculum so that other churches can use it.

Not on this list: all the other, non-musical things I did this summer. If you’re curious about my summer debrief for writing, check out this episode of my podcast Writing on Wednesdays.

What didn’t work as well this summer?

1. New-to-me postludes. I wanted to learn about 10 new pieces this summer and ended up learning maybe 3. I think this was just at the bottom of my priorities, so when I got busy, it was the first goal to drop.
2. In retrospect, I wish I would have put more time into helping vocal soloists select music written in the last 20 years. Just as with my postludes, it’s easiest to sing music we already know.
3. I didn’t finish organizing the church’s music library – still working through instrumental and solo vocal music. So close to done!

What do I want to remember for next summer?

1. In the right setting, collaboration can be amazing. (I have not enjoyed collaboration very much in the past, something I wrote about here.)
2. I need to plan much further in advance if I want to keep learning new instrumental music in the summer.

So how about you? What worked well, not so well, and what do you want to remember for next year?

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